


Near Death Experience

by VanityShion



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 05:56:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1971468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanityShion/pseuds/VanityShion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neku is watching the Reaper with an expression of abject sorrow, and the fleeting thought crosses Joshua’s mind that Neku might have known the girl before she died.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Near Death Experience

**Author's Note:**

> The first drabble written for Fanfiction Fridays on our Tumblr. We'd love to write more in this universe in the future (and we do take requests). Drabbles don't go through the drafting process, so any errors are due to this being the first and only draft.
> 
> Disclaimer: We don't own TWEWY or any of its characters.

It's not often that Joshua remembers the dead kids he's seen—eleven years is a long time to keep track of—but this girl sticks out in his memory. She's his age, and he could swear he saw her in school once or twice before she was killed. Her death was maybe a few months ago, and he assumed after the week was over that she'd been Erased, since he never saw her again.

He's not sure how to feel about being so wrong.

"Josh! Pay attention!" Neku hollers at him.

How the other boy manages to speak directly to him when they're fighting in different dimensions is something Joshua is not sure he'll ever find out. "Relax, Neku. It's nothing we can't—"

He's interrupted by a choking sound from Neku's dimension, accompanied by the sensation of something hard slamming into his chest, and he is _never_ going to get used to feeling someone else's wounds as though they're his own. Especially when that someone is—

"Neku?" he asks, ever cautious.

"I'm fine."

Joshua can't see Neku, but he can feel the other boy casting his psychs, each one simmering with raw power. Then Neku runs out of energy for a moment, and Joshua remembers he's supposed to be fighting too. He refocuses his attention on the girl-turned-Reaper, his fingers flying across the keys of his cell phone. Somehow, it's easier to use his increased psychic powers when he has something to focus them through, like Neku does with his pins. The girl screams in rage and flies at him, and this time the impact is definitely from his own wounds. Joshua falters and takes a step back, wincing in pain.

"Joshua!" Neku shouts, and it's the use of his full name more than the tone of Neku's voice that alerts Joshua to the fact that Neku is panicking.

Then his world shatters as the Reaper attacks Neku again, taking advantage of the boy's distraction to do serious damage. There are no health points in real life, but if there were, Joshua is sure that their shared health bar would be dangerously low. Everything is spinning, and he can feel an anxiety attack coming on, because he didn't come _this far_ just to get Erased.

They have one chance. They've only done it once, and it was Neku who initiated it. Joshua has no idea what he's doing, only a general sensation to build off of, and the Reaper is coming towards him rapidly, but the stakes have never been higher. He _reaches_ with his mind through the haze of dizziness to where he knows Neku is, and he's relieved beyond belief when he feels a response.

"Work for you?" he whispers, the Reaper girl's face looming large in his vision.

"What do you think?" is Neku's reply.

It feels like he's spinning around Neku, and then Neku's power rockets through him, blasting into the Reaper like shards of ice. Just as clearly, he feels his own energy slamming out of Neku's hands in a wave of burning heat. Neku quickly seizes control of the attack, and Joshua feels so _connected_ to the other boy that for a moment, his whole _world_ is Neku.

And then he finds himself in the UG again, on his knees with his hands splayed out in front of him. Neku is crouched nearby, watching the Reaper with an expression of abject sorrow, and the fleeting thought crosses Joshua's mind that Neku might have known the girl before she died. He pushes jealousy to the back of his mind and gets to his feet, trying not to look at the screaming girl as she dissolves into thin air.

Only once the Reaper has vanished entirely does Neku slowly straighten, his eyes still fixed on the spot where she was standing.

Joshua hesitates before breaking the silence. "... Neku?"

Neku starts and whips his head around. Instinctively, Joshua steps backward, putting distance between himself and the boy he still doesn't really understand, and Neku sighs and raises a hand in apology.

It's not the first time Neku has chosen to respect Joshua's anxiety instead of interrogating him about it. Joshua still isn't sure whether to feel relieved or unsettled. "Did you know her?" he asks, tilting his head to the side.

An unreadable expression flashes across Neku's face, and he turns his head away. "Sort of. I wish she'd given us a chance to talk to her instead of just fighting."

"Most Reapers are like that," Joshua observes, while privately thinking that this is one of the things he wants to fix if he can take over the Reaperdom. This game just isn't fair to its players.


End file.
